September 09, 2012
When we say or when we hear about "Mexican Dishes", the dishes that pop out into our mind is Quesadillas, Salsas, Nachos, Burritos, Tacos, Chili con Carne, dishes with Onions, Peppers, Tomatoes and many more! Mexicans loves to eat food that were based in tomatoes, and puts a lot of chili because they like something hot. They also want dishes that has a lot of cheese and etc.
Last Friday, (090712) we cooked Mexican Dishes for my Western Cuisine subject. We all know that Mexico is in the Western part of the world, that's why it belongs to that subject, duh. When my instructress told us that we will be cooking some Mexican Dishes, I was like, OMG! I don't like Mexican foods. They are spicy, and smells badly for me, maybe it's because of the onions and a lot of peppers that they were putting in their dishes. We picked the foods that we will cook. I picked, Salsa Verde, Arroz Mexicano and the famous Chili con Carne. I don't like them. Yes, I was studying Culinary and will be a chef someday so I must accept everything, every food and drinks that they will serve.
We were 4 in my group, and I chose to cook the Arroz Mexicano. Arroz Mexicano is also called the Mexican rice. When we were cooking rice, of course we cooked it in water, but in the Arroz Mexicano, you will cook the rice in Tomato Juice. Of course, you will also add some bell peppers, because Mexicans love it, some fresh tomatoes, some garlic and of course, onions. I cooked it for about 30 mins.
The Salsa Verde was so easy, you just need to blend the tomatillos (green tomatoes), onions, jalapeno and some coriander together and whala! you can have your own Salsa Verde. Don't panic if you came up with a very watery salsa, it is really the texture of it, don't worry. You can dip some chips on it.
Lastly, we cooked the Chili con Carne, it was beef sauteed in onion, tomato sauce, with some fresh tomatoes, and a lot of chili powder, hot sauce, jalapenos, green bell pepper and the red kidney beans. The consistency of the dish must not have too much liquid but must not be too dry. It must be thick, and a little bit saucy.
EVALUATION TIME! It is the time to check or to taste if the dishes hits the right taste, aroma, and texture! This is it! We were the last group to present the dish.
They tasted it already. The comment in the Arroz Mexicano is the grain of the rice, they say that in Arroz Mexicano, the rice must me sticky so we must buy some glutinous rice instead of the ordinary long-grained rice. They like the Salsa Verde, because they say that they can really taste the freshness of the vegetables that was used in it. The Chili con Carne was PERFECT. They like it so much even though it is TOO HOT! Yes! Super Spicy! and I don't like spicy foods but if it's not spicy, I will eat it all up!
It's done! Yes! We get a high grade actually. Sorry to those people who like Mexican Dishes, sorry if I don't like it. We have different taste buts anyway.
